Evaluating significant economic trade-offs for process design and steady-state control optimization problems

An order‐of‐magnitude analysis that evaluates the significant economic trade‐offs for the process design optimization problem allows rapid screening of flowsheet alternatives. The optimization problem is simplified by eliminating all but the most important design variables and by including only the dominant cost functions for each trade‐off. Quantitative parameters are defined which allow a straightforward selection of these elements and identify the incentive for optimization. A new optimization criterion helps to prevent the rigor of the optimization analysis from exceeding the accuracy of the design and economic models used.